If someone from the 1950's suddenly appeared today........

[dipsydoodle]

[brooklynboy49]

1. Doc Brown already answered this question

The actor??!!

[Paulie]

2. Christopher Lloyd

Who said the naming of cats is a difficult matter?

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Great Scott!!

[pipi_k]

3. Hah! Exactly!

or maybe since it's really sort of sad.


Anyway, coincidentally, while making breakfast this morning, I found myself playing my usual mind game...

I often wonder what would happen if someone from, say, Tudor times suddenly appeared. How would s/he react to things like refrigerators...flush toilets...running water...

How could I explain electricity...

not to mention more complex and (miraculous to them) things like mp3 players, smart phones, computers, humungous C-130 cargo planes flying around in the air, artificial limbs, etc.


Would that person totally freak out and want to go back to whatever time s/he lived in, or stay because of all the really cool stuff?

[jakeXT]

5. In Les Visiteurs they were fascinated by toilet paper

[pipi_k]

6. Hahahaha!!!!

OK I need to see that one!

[jakeXT]

13. It's on youtube with subtitles, I believe

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. A very very funny film from beginning to end

I wasn't too keen on the English language sequel (Just Visiting) with the same actors and Christina Applegate. Half the laughs in the original had to do with the use of archaic French language expressions.

[jakeXT]

12. Looks like they are producing a 3rd one

http://www.lepoint.fr/cinema/les-visiteurs-3-dans-les-starting-blocks-31-03-2014-1807436_35.php

[dipsydoodle]

9. That's the French original

I recognise the car. I bought the DVD soon as it was released years ago.

[First Speaker]

4. Any SF reader would take the technology for granted...

...the 50s were the age of Heinlein, Asimov, and technological optimism. What would surprise someone from that era is the decline of trust in science, and the growth of religious fundamentalism and New Age thinking.

[malthaussen]

11. That might surprise some of them...

... but the hardest thing to explain would be how we, as a culture, blithely ignored their warnings about fascism and the dehumanization of the species.

I doubt Heinlein et al would be much amazed by the fundies and new agers, anyway. After all, it was Bob who predicted both the Crazy Years and the upcoming theocracy. And it was Pournelle and Niven who predicted the devaluing of education to the point where janitors had to have PhDs (fortunately, that hasn't come to pass yet... quite).

-- Mal

[First Speaker]

16. Yeah, I'm afraid you're right...

...in 1980, Heinlein, in *Expanded Universe*, said that no one had ever questioned the plausibility of the basic premise of "If This Goes On--" The rise of the American Ayatollahs continues apace, and frankly, given his track record as a predictor, I wouldn't be surprised if Nehemiah Scudder walks among us today.

[RebelOne]

18. Yes, yes, I was a teenager in the '50s,

and a science fiction fan. Heinlein, Asimov and Bradbury were my favorites.

[Jim Lane]

21. Those SF readers wouldn't be surprised that humans have walked on the Moon....

They expected us to go to the Moon. What they simply wouldn't believe is that we stopped going, and haven't been back in more than 40 years.

I don't know a single SF writer who predicted anything like that.

[First Speaker]

23. Heinlein basically did

...his "future history" had an era of space travel which was aborted when the American Ayatollahs took power. Which was just about now... ... Heinlein, for all my disagreements with him, understood a lot...

[malthaussen]

10. Hell, I *am* somebody from the 50's. n/t

[RebelOne]

17. Same here. I have lived from the 1940s to the present. n/t

[kentauros]

14. Sure, that's the sarcastic answer.

Here's a realistic one to which they would be quite impressed:

You can talk to someone on the other side of the world, in good to high quality, with video, without having to use a dime or call collect, for free, for as long as you want to keep the conversation going, and it isn't through Ma Bell.

Do that on a payphone or home phone!

[BarbaRosa]

15. How about take a hot dog out of the freezer,

wrap it in a paper towel, put it on a paper plate, shove it in the 'oven' and about a minute later you're ready to go.

I know microwaves have been around for some time but back then, kinda like computers they almost needed their own room and power grid.

[Jenoch]

19. Keeping my answer in the technology area

I think cell phones in general and smartphones/internet in specifics would be the most difficult things to explain.

I remember trying to tell some collegues about 15 years ago that in the not too distant future we would be watching 'television' over the internet. They laughed at my idea.

[gratuitous]

20. No, really!

We elected Ronald Reagan to the Presidency twice, and the same party nominated Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan for the number 2 spot on the national ticket.

No, I am not a lunatic.

[Jenoch]

22. After further thought,

I disagree with your answer to yourself. There is a lot of 'knowledge' around the world that has not been digitized and available on the internet.